With sheer conviction and determination, Dipa Karmakar has taken the risk and achieved what no one from a country of a billion people hasn't even thought about dreaming, forget about performing, before her
"Kuch paane ke liye kuch toh risk lena hi padta hai"
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Dipa Karmakar during the beam event in Rio on Sunday. Pic/PTI
These words may sound like an improvised version of a popular dialogue from Shah Rukh Khan's career-launching blockbuster Baazigar but with this filmy-sounding remark, Dipa Karmakar had summed up her fearless efforts to perfect the 'Produnova' while speaking to a group of journalists during her training session in New Delhi, ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
With sheer conviction and immense determination, she has taken the risk again and achieved what no one from a country of a billion people hasn't even thought about dreaming, forget about performing, before her. The diminutive girl from India's third smallest state, Tripura, which was connected by a broad gauge railway network only a few days back, has already caught the nation's Olympic imagination by a storm, thanks to the 'Vault of Death' or the 'Voldermort of Vaults' that has been viewed as the one-that- must-not-be-tried in the world of gymnastics.
Unusual vault
North Korean gymnast Choe Jong Sil was the first-ever gymnast to perform the unusual vault, comprising of a front handspring and two front somersaults, at the 1980 Moscow Olympics but she landed on her back. Although former Russian Olympian Yelena Produnova had performed the high-risk manoeuvre at the 1999 Universiade Games and gave her name to the dangerous handspring double front vault, but she didn't dare to use the highest rated vault in her silver-winning sole Olympic campaign at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Just over a decade later, Dominican gymnast Yamilet Peña made the second ever successful Produnova landing at the qualifying round of the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo before disastrously landing on her back while repeating it in the final and finishing last.
'Perfect P'
But Dipa's tryst with the 'Perfect P' had started when her Produnova catapulted her to the podium of the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow from an almost hopeless position in the standings. "In gymnastics, girls have to perform in four events. Vaulting horse, balancing beam, floor exercises, uneven bars. So I do all four but this (Produnova) is my specialization," Dipa describes her bronze-winning vault, which made her the 3rd person in the history of gymnastics to make it possible. While others stay away from risking their lives, Dipa has made it her stealth weapon and no wonder, it was another 'Produnova' that landed her in Rio.
Father's concern
But in the words of her concerned father, Dulal Karmakar, "we saw the Produnova for the first time on TV. And we used to tell everyone that we are not worried. But now, slowly, we are scared in our hearts because, should anything, even a minor mistake, happen in the landing, anything could happen (to her). Anything."
Dipa's rival and the current star of her discipline, Simon Biles has already said that "somebody could even get killed trying to pull off the vault, that even sounds, 'terrifying' while her title-favourite American all-around teammates says, "we'll never do it." But Dipa, who turned 23 just yesterday, knows well that her life has been transformed like a Cinderella fairytale with the help of the vault that has been popularized by her. As the the weightlifting coach's daughter is gunning for the ultimate Olympic glory, come August 14 and she knows it very well that her two planned 'Produnovas' are lifting the nation's hopes and can catapult her to a colossal height in the history of Indian sports.
The writer is international news editor with CCTV News in Beijing
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